Concert Review - Swim Deep!

8:56 am Angie 0 Comments

Sorry, this review is about a week or two late! Anyway, my friends and I had a chance to see the Birmingham indie rockers Swim Deep on the last day of their tour in London. Getting there at half four in the afternoon, we were surprised to see we were the first in the queue! (bearing in mind the doors opened at 7pm) After waiting almost three hours to see this band (and stopping off for some KFC while we waited), the doors had finally opened right in-front of us and we ran to the front of the barriers. After being delayed for a few seconds because the venue didn't let me take in my own water (so you have to buy their overpriced water instead), I ran, and ended up right at the front!

So after waiting an hour, at 8pm the first warm-up band came on. Sundara Karma was their name, and drinking a can of Fosters in-between songs was their game.  If you like bands like The Drums, you'll love this band. Having a hint of Kings of Leon in them, they rocked the stage for the first hour. The crowd was jumping, the beats were thumping (wow, that sounded really bad). Although almost no-one from the audience had a clue who they were, they performed quite well, playing songs like 'Freshbloom', one of their most popular recent releases.

After Sundara Karma played their set, we were expected to wait even more for the SECOND warm-up band to come on which frankly was a little annoying. This was the much loved Wolf Alice, a more well-known band amongst the audience. This was when some considerate geniuses in the audience decided to try and crush everyone who was standing in order to try and push to the front. Not today, matey! Anyway, after high expectations, I was kind of let down because while the acoustics were good, the lead singer's (Ellie Rowsell) vocals were weak sounding. So weak that I could barely tell what she was saying. Her voice is quite calm and sedated and it was just being overpowered by the sound of the instruments. Nevertheless, the band had a cool sound and played songs such as 'She' and 'Fluffy' which are crowd favourites to those who have heard them. When I first listened to the band's music it reminded me of The XX, so if you like that kinda sound, give this indie band a listen to!

After Wolf Alice performed, the crowd got a little restless as they started chanting 'Swim Deep, Swim Deep!', but we waited patiently at the front. Swim Deep came on and a massive roar of cheering was heard from the audience. Austin's (plays lead vocals and guitar for the band) signature guitar looking colourful in the fluorescent lighting, Cavan (bass player) and his golden locks glimmering in the shine of the disco ball above, all was right in the world. Moving on from my melodrama, they played their set, all songs from the début album 'Where the Heaven Are We' (which you should give a listen to, by the way!) and a bouncy cover of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Towards the end all the warm up bands came on stage and Ellie and Austin broke into 'Tassle Man', a song created by the two (photo of the performance on the right). The mood was happy, chilled and crazy at the same time. It was a great night with lots of singing and awkward dancing on my part.

To make it even better, good 'ol Fred Macpherson (lead singer of Spector) was there supporting his mates at the show, and some of us even got a cheeky selfie with the lad. All in all, it was a great night! Would definitely recommend giving this band a listen!